Wearing identical red, blue, green, purple, orange and yellow-striped shirts and nearly- identical camp-counselor whistles, Hughes and Moriarty regaled the children with tips about circus clowns and their tricks.

Moriarty used swatches of netting to teach juggling while Hughes had his group gawking as they watched their plastic plates spin on thin wooden dowels. Within minutes, swatches of netting and plastic plates were cascading to the floor.

Hughes summoned his children into a circle so he could share an important confidence.

``We're going to learn a magic trick right now,'' he said softly. Soon he had the children tossing imaginary balls, chocolate bars and quarters and ``catching'' them in their bags with a loud ``thwap!''

One of the highlights of the workshop was the make-up demonstration.

Melissa Anderson sat stiffly in a chair while Hughes and Moriarty talked about traditional clown-face designs and colors.

``Have you ever been made up into a circus clown?'' Hughes asked while Melissa, not quite sure she was going to enjoy being a lab rat, squirmed.

Before long, the 7-year-old had transmogrified into Cupcake, a clown with a red nose, red lower mouth, arching black eyebrows and an ear-to-ear grin that belied her earlier anxiety.

The kids all seemed to have a favorite clown activity.

For Brad Bruffey, 10, learning how to fake tripping over his own feet -- or maybe simply getting permission to do it -- was a special thrill.

Spinning plates was the best part for Nick Podgorski, 8, who stared intently at his twirling green plastic disk while walking around the room.

And what was Melissa Anderson's favorite activity? That's easy -- having her face painted, she said with a very colorful grin.